Members of the House Ways and Means Committee majority, who will lead the extension or expansion of the first Trump term income tax cuts, are expressing some hesitancy about using tariffs as a pay-for.
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The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, in its annual report to Congress, said that ending de minimis for all e-commerce is one of its top 10 recommendations, and said that if Congress passes such a law, it should provide CBP adequate resources to implement and enforce the change.
Outgoing Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., last week formally introduced a bill restricting de minimis eligibility for textiles and apparel from anywhere in the world, as well as goods subject to Section 301 tariffs (see 2408020031). The bipartisan bill goes beyond the version that passed the House Ways and Means Committee, in that it adds apparel to the list of restricted items, and it would levy a $2 fee on de minimis packages, to help CBP fund its inspections of the low-value packages. The Biden administration is planning to issue a proposed rule before Jan. 20 that would remove Section 301 goods from de minimis, but it can't add the fee through rulemaking.
House Select Committee on China Chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., proposes increasing tariffs on nearly all Chinese goods to at least 35% and raising tariffs on "strategic goods" to 100%, with exceptions only for goods that are currently sourced only from China.
NEW YORK -- The executive director of CBP's Office of Trade Relations told U.S. Fashion Industry Association conference attendees this week that CBP thought crossing the 1 billion de minimis packages threshold was big, but then volume increased about 40% in the 2024 fiscal year. Felicia Pullam said CBP cannot handle that kind of massive increase and is confident it's stopping dangerous contact lenses, vapes, toys with lead paint, counterfeit airbags, medicines and other illicit goods.
NEW YORK -- Tyler Beckelman, a Commerce deputy assistant secretary who also sits on the interagency Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force, told a garment industry audience that the Biden administration still intends to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking on de minimis "before we all turn into pumpkins on Jan. 20."
A past trade staffer from the Senate Finance Committee said that if Congress wanted to write tariffs into law in order to use that revenue as a partial pay-for in tax cut extensions, those tariffs would likely wait until January 2026, as that's when the tax laws would take effect.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., asked the Federal Trade Commission to enforce its truth in advertising laws so that Chinese-made American flags aren't advertised as “Made in the USA” when they are listed for sale on e-commerce platforms.